* AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK *\n\n‘A spectacular achievement’ ANTHONY DOERR\n‘Extravagantly beautiful’ DAILY MAIL\n‘One of the greatest writers of all time’ JACQUELINE WOODSON\n‘Extraordinary’ GUARDIAN\n‘The best book I’ve read in years’ LOUISE KENNEDY\n-----------------------\nThe first weapon I ever held was my mother's hand.\nOn a slave plantation in the Carolinas, Annis has survived in the light of her mother’s\nresilience, comforted by stories of her African warrior grandmother. Everything she\nknows, she learned from her mother – how to fight, how to be strong, how to grow up in\na world shrouded in darkness.\nWhen she is sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, Annis must venture\nonward through the rich but unforgiving landscapes of the American South alone: from\nthe rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans, and into the\nfearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. Searching for relief in memories of her\nmother, she opens herself to a world beyond her own, teeming with spirits of earth,\nwater, history and myth.\nA reimagining of American slavery as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching, Let\nUs Descend offers a magnificent portrait of the strength of the human spirit and its ability\nto emerge from darkness into light. This is a story of beauty, love, rebirth and\nreclamation – a masterwork for the ages.\nPraise for Sing, Unburied, Sing\n‘A must’ Margaret Atwood\n‘One of the most important writers in America today’ Ann Patchett\n‘Ward is a lyrical, visceral storyteller’ Daily Mail\n‘A searing, urgent read’ Celeste Ng\n‘Plays out like a grand epic … Staggering’ Marlon James